Aerial panoramic oblique photography apparatus belongs to the technical field of aerial photogrammetry and aerial oblique photogrammetry. Aerial photogrammetry relates to aerial photo-shooting and the use of photogrammetry technology to produce a variety of surveying and mapping products, such as digital terrain models, orthophoto maps and vector maps. Aerial oblique photogrammetry is to obtain texture of the sides of an object on the ground by taking photos at an oblique angle, and then establish a real urban three-dimensional model by the photogrammetry technology.
Aerial oblique photography is a breakthrough of the traditional aerial photogrammetry. It takes photos of natural objects and man-made buildings on the ground by a group of cameras arranged at different angles. The existing aerial oblique photography apparatus is generally in the form of a group of five cameras, including a nadir camera and four oblique cameras. In consideration of the number of cameras, and the size and weight of the apparatus, the oblique cameras will generally be commercial medium format cameras or full frame cameras.
Oblique cameras of the five-camera photography apparatus have limited coverage areas during operation. It is required to increase the overlapping and sidelap in order to achieve a complete image-capturing. Overlapping depends on the speed of the aerial vehicle and the operating speed of the cameras. A five-camera combination generally requires nadir camera to have 80% overlapping in order to meet urban 3D model requirements. Sidelapping is the overlapping between each flight line. A five-camera combination generally requires nadir cameras to have an 80% overlapping in order to meet the urban shooting requirements. Since the area array of the medium or full frame camera is relatively small, and high-resolution images require a low-altitude flight, it will result in low flight efficiency for a large overlapping photo-taking task. The cost of flight will therefore be multiplied, and the number of images will be increased and repeated.